Red Duke shows Army medics trauma surgery tricks

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Posted Sep. 19, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Posted Sep. 19, 2013 at 3:15 AM

HOUSTON (AP) — Four Army medics, clad in military camouflage, sat around long tables, each carefully stitching skin back together. In front of them that August day, a man with gold-rimmed glasses dressed in green hospital scrubs looked on, taking note of their techniques and calling out tips every once in a while.

"Pull it way up, sergeant," the man with the thick grey mustache said in a sharp Texas twang as he noticed one of the medics tugging on the thread. "There you go, you got it."

They weren't treating the wounds of an actual patient on a battlefield that day. Rather, they were learning the art of suturing by using pigs' feet in a conference room on the 11th floor of Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

Their instructor was Dr. James "Red" Duke Jr., medical director of the Life Flight program at the hospital. One of the country's foremost trauma care experts, 84-year-old Duke gained fame with his nationally syndicated television spot called "Dr. Red Duke's Health Reports," which aired for 15 years.

That afternoon Duke was teaching the soldiers tricks of the trade for suturing, the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/13gfsKX) reported.

In mid-August, the four soldiers were the fifth group of Army Reserve flight medics to come to the hospital this year for a joint training program with Memorial Hermann and the U.S. Army Reserve Aviation. The soldiers were able to learn from those who specialize in treating trauma patients day in and day out, giving them the extra tools they need to save lives in combat. The hospital's trauma staff and Life Flight team, including Duke, who helped establish the air ambulance program in 1976, led the instruction.

"The environment in which they have to try to help these individuals out that are hurt or sick, it's not a real well-controlled environment. Sometimes it's pretty hostile," Duke said. "My respect for them is unbounding. I think it's a real privilege to work with them."

In the calm of a conference room, the soldiers learned the latest techniques and technology in trauma care, from stopping bleeding and treating shock to controlling a patient's airway. The medics - all stationed in Fort Knox, Ky., with an Army Reserve aviation unit - also benefited from hands-on experience with real patients in operating rooms and flying with Life Flight crews to trauma calls.

"They really wanted to instruct us well and they instructed us from experience, all the tricks of the trade," said Staff Sgt. Marie-Claire Glidden, who has had a nearly 17-year military career. "They really wanted us to be successful."

The program grew out of an Army analysis of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that showed advanced training of flight medics would improve patient outcomes, said Maj. Clinton Williams, battalion operations officer for the 7-158 Aviation Regiment in Fort Hood. He said that prompted the Army to require every flight medic assigned to a valid medical evacuation unit to achieve and maintain a paramedic certification by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians.

He noted that all flight medics must complete the requirements by the end of September 2017.

"We don't know if and when we'll be asked to deploy again," Williams said. "This program postures our medics to be able to provide trauma care if and when we are called upon to deploy for any mission in the future anywhere in the world."

Often using potential battlefield scenarios for instruction, Life Flight staff gave the Army medics tips on such topics as how to quickly find body landmarks for medical procedures, or how to maintain their calm when they literally may be under fire.

"Out there in the battlefield, it's very stressful to begin with," clinical educator and Life Flight paramedic George Tarver said. "You add the possibility of being shot at, protecting yourself on top of trying to save a life, so you have to learn to control your stress."

Another important teaching tool for the Army medics was being able to see the care an acute trauma patient receives beyond treatment in the air ambulance, clinical educator and Life Flight nurse Rudy Cabrera said.

"Knowing all those aspects of patients and their injuries makes you more mindful of how to care for a patient," he said.

Sgt. Brian Etchison, 30, has worked as a combat medic during more than 10 years with the Army. During his three deployments to Iraq, he provided emergency medical care to soldiers for everything, from blast injuries to cuts from barbed wire. For him, it was the clinical aspect of the training at the hospital that was most useful.

"I'm comfortable with the trauma stuff," said Etchison, who works as a police officer in Nashville, Tenn. "It's the medical stuff, like if someone is sick and how to fix them, that I needed."

Because these Army flight medics are reserves, most of them also work civilian jobs. Some, such as Sgt. John Autry, 34, work in medical fields. He serves as a paramedic in Louisville, Ky. Becoming a flight medic is a longtime dream.

"This is something that is helping me with exactly what I want to do," Autry said.

However, a good portion of the Army Reserve flight medics do not work as medical professionals in civilian life, Williams said. The training gives them the opportunity to exercise skills that they otherwise would not get to practice.

Sgt. Marbou Christman said that while he enjoys working in military medicine, the civilian jobs he applies for in the future likely will not be in the medical field.

"For me, this really gives me an opportunity to refresh some skills I normally don't use," he said.

The experience was not only rewarding for the Army medics but also for the staff at Memorial Hermann working with them.

"This is my way of serving my country," Tarver said. "If there is anything that I can do to teach these guys something that will help save a fellow solider's life, my job has been done."

During the suture lab, the soldiers listened to Duke tell stories about his own time as an Army tank officer in the 1950s. It is why he is a bit hard of hearing now, he told them.

About halfway through the lab, Duke leaned back in his chair and looked around the table.

"Damn, I wish I hadn't gotten so old that I could be out there with you," he said. The room was silent and the soldiers kept their heads down, staying on task, continuing to make their stitches.

Later that week, Christman, 29, who has been deployed twice, both times to Iraq, said the sentiment from Duke touched him so much that silence seemed the only appropriate response. His fellow soldiers agreed.

"There's not a lot of people I would say this about," he said. "But I'd go to war with Dr. Duke."